Coindex & Crypto Aquarium

Meet Joshua Petty – CoinDex co-creator and the community leader at Crypto Aquarium.

Q: Hi Josh! Can you tell us about yourself and what you're working on?

Hello World! I am a American software entrepreneur, cryptocurrency investor and community builder based in Berlin, Germany.

I have been working as part of a talented team at Cellaflora 🖥 — A software product design studio, for the last few years. We started the business while attending Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. We design and build iOS, Android, Web, and Desktop apps, and have worked with businesses all over the world.

The Cellaflora team also works on in-house ventures. One of our most recent products is Coindex📱. Coindex is a cryptocurrency price tracking app on iOS (and eventually Android). Our goal for Coindex is to provide the best possible mobile experience for cryptocurrency price tracking and mobile trading.

This summer, I’ve been working on a really fun project called the Crypto Aquarium 🐳. The Crypto Aquarium is a cryptocurrency Telegram community we launched this summer, and it now has 600+ members from 20+ countries. It’s a fun place for cryptocurrency enthusiasts to carry on stimulating dialogue around their particular interests.

Q: What motivated you to get started with Aquarium?

I have been involved with cryptocurrency since 2013. Along the way, I had the idea for creating a new breed of community. If you have spent any time in crypto-related Reddit or Twitter threads, you have probably seen how toxic they can be. Our goal is to create a positive and intellectual conversation surrounding cryptocurrency. A place where noobs and experts alike can come together.

Our goal is to create a positive and intellectual conversation surrounding cryptocurrency.

This year’s Consensus Blockchain event in New York City really pushed the market forward. Cryptocurrency gained massive exposure to a new user base. As a result, I was getting calls, texts, and emails daily from people asking about cryptocurrency. I saw the Aquarium as a way to solve this problem. I called up a few friends and asked if they would be interested in starting a crypto group chat–they said yes, and the Aquarium was born.

Q: What did it take to reach first 100 users?

The first 100 was probably the most difficult. We didn’t really have a strategy to onboard quality users, it was more word of mouth. It was amazing to see people in the chat enjoying the experience and inviting friends. This organic referral scenario quickly led us to our first 100 and it has been going strong ever since.

Q: Managing a community is hard work. How do you deal with it?

Trying to keep up with an active community like ours can be time consuming. Just like with anything else, it is important to balance your time so you don’t experience burnout.

That said, I think our community is a special place because of the shared responsibility we have as members to make learning and talking about crypto a great experience. The credit for our success really goes to those in the community. For the most part, this is an uncensored, self-managed forum. We have such a solid core community that we don’t have to overly moderate. Because of this philosophy, great conversation tends to happen naturally.

Too many to mention them all, but I’d like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to a some cool people. Thank you Brian Liotti, Neo Palettas, Dylan Damsma, Alex May, Billy Rose, Matt Owen, Jurgen Van de Vyver, Robert Valmassoi, Trevor Whan, and Nicolo Stewen.

I’m grateful for the time and effort you all put into making our community and the crypto industry a better place. 🙌

Q: What are the biggest challenges you've faced since the Aquarium start?

It’s been pretty smooth sailing so far. We are particularly proud of our developer Alex May for building the Crypto Whale bot. That was a real challenge that he took on and it came out great. The community loves our Crypto Whale bot.

Q: What is Coindex? Tell us about its advantages please.

Coindex is a cryptocurrency price tracking app. In this early stage, the primary problem we are solving is offering users a better experience for tracking the markets.

Features:

Track prices of assets listed on Poloniex, Bittrex, and Gdax

Place and track paper trades

Build and share a watchlist

The bigger picture: We are building the best mobile experience for trading cryptocurrency.

If you would like to get the latest news and updates, check out our Telegram group. https://t.me/coindex

Q: Can we try it out?

Definitely! We have over 3,000 beta users to date and the number is growing each day. You can sign up for our beta on our website. We also encourage everyone who joins the Coindex community chat to get the latest news and provide feedback here.

Q: What about Coindex roadmap?

I talk a little about our roadmap in my Medium post “Introducing Coindex.” In short, the community has given us a ton of great ideas. Now we need to get to the drawing board and consider what adds the most value. We want to provide the best user experience for making trades and tracking prices on mobile.

Q: What are the Coindex monetisation plans?

This project is in its early stages so there are a number of paths to monetization. Right now we are focused on building a great UX for tracking different markets. As we go, we are picking up a ton of valuable feedback to consider as we take on mobile trading.

Q: Drop 3 blockchain-related links.

Q: What future of the blockchain technology and Bitcoin do you predict?

Blockchains allow users to participate in a merit-based, open network without a central authority. Any service that relies on trust of a middle-man can theoretically be replaced with a decentralized network as long as the incentives are there.

Blockchain start ups will continue to challenge today’s entities with these open networks. Cloud computing, prediction markets, exchanges, etc. are just a few examples.